PREFACE. 



THESE little Essays first appeared in the 

 columns of the ' Pall Mall Gazette,' and I 

 have to thank the Editor for his kind and 

 courteous permission to republish them here. 

 They were written in almost every case 

 exactly under the circumstances which they 

 describe, so that they form the record of a 

 single summer's stray thoughts on Nature 

 from an easy-going, half-scientific, half- 

 aesthetic standpoint. Some of them were 

 made up in Dorsetshire during early Spring ; 

 some were suggested among the Welsh hills 

 in July and August ; and a few were drawn 

 from Autumn scenes on the English South 

 Coast in September and October. They 



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